City cop nabs Texas Massacre character, then get busted himself
Apparently, a Baltimore police sergeant tried to nap the killer in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but the cop is the one who ended up behind bars.
Baltimore County police tell me that the sergeant, Eric Michael Janik, 36, went through a haunted house at the Eastpoint Mall Sunday night and apparently didn't like or didn't understand that the massacre character chases after people at the end.
The man was dressed as "Leatherface" and was carrying a prop chainsaw, minus the blade, when police said the off-duty sergeant took out his gun and pointed it at the man. He immediately put his hands in the air to surrender, words were exchanged and the cop was later arrested.
Janik was charged with one count of first-degree assault and promptly suspended.
Posted by Peter Hermann at 12:54 PM | Permalink
| Comments (10)
Categories: Baltimore County, Breaking news
Categories: Baltimore County, Breaking news
Comments
My goodness, where do you start!
Whatever else comes of this the lack of perspective and self control demonstrated here (by a Sergeant!) doesn't bode well for his future as an officer.
The anti CCW folks are gonna just love this.
Posted by: MrRational | October 26, 2009 1:41 PM
What this story fails to mention is that the Sgt. had his 9 year old child with him and that they were walking in a dimly lit parking lot after leaving the area of the haunted house. I believe ANYONE in this situation would have reacted this same way to protect said child. I am hard-pressed to understand why this man was arrested. Although the chainsaw did not have the blades, how would ANYONE have known that if coming from behind, you heard the sound of a chainsaw? This article seems to be missing a few things. Why was the person walking around outside the confines of the haunted house in the first place? How many times have we read in the news about people being robbed, car-jacked, abducted, raped ...etc... from someone in disguise in a parking lot? I pose this question ... if you were in this situation, would you do anything to protect your young child ... or would you have stopped to ask this masked man first what his intentions were? The chainsaw person should be counting his blessings that this happened to be a police officer who is trained and therefor had the where-with-all to put his weapon away once deemed non-threatening. If it were "Joe Citizen", he may have panicked and pulled the trigger.
Posted by: Hazel | October 26, 2009 4:02 PM
HA! Being BP, I'd be on edge too, and I am sure Janik is pretty embarrassed and will never live this one down at the precinct - Sounds like a scene out of The Wire.
Posted by: James | October 26, 2009 4:14 PM
Hazel, yes, the story is missing some things because it is the early version of what will appear in tomorrow's newspaper and on the web site. We now have the police report that notes, among other things, that the sergeant had just encountered the man with the chain saw before encountering him again outside, that the Baltimore County police officers smelled alcohol on his breath and that he at first denied taking his gun out, and then changed his story later.
There will be more details in the next story.
Posted by: Peter Hermann | October 26, 2009 4:22 PM
Hazel- "Joe Citizen-Six-Pack" should not be packing a gun to a haunted house while drunk and with their 9 year old daughter. The thought of a person reacting to haunted house by shooting a character if they were "Joe Citizen" carrying a gun (at a family attraction) is by far the best argument I have heard for universal prohibition of all guns. I applaud you and your succinct example supporting a modern reading of the 2nd Amendment. Also- we might revisit the 18th Amendment while we are at it. Who takes their 9 year old daughter, while stinking drunk, to a haunted house on a Sunday night?
Posted by: Rich | October 27, 2009 9:28 AM
There are always going to be people like Hazel who defend the corrupt cops no matter what they do! It is a shem that a once proud city and a once proud police dept. have sunk to the depths they have with seemingly no hope to recover. What a great place! No wonder I moved to Pa.!
Posted by: MikeB | October 28, 2009 8:26 AM
My prediction is that he'll get off scot-free. The county FOP brothers will take care of business and protect one of their city FOP brothers, 'soften' their testimony, maybe misplace some documentation or make some other technical error, and sargeant-tipsy-chainsaw will end up with nothing more than a 'suspension with pay'. (Hope I'm wrong about this, but I doubt it.)
Posted by: coder1 | October 28, 2009 2:03 PM
My prediction is that he'll get off scot-free. The county FOP brothers will take care of business and protect one of their city FOP brothers, 'soften' their testimony, maybe misplace some documentation or make some other technical error, and sargeant-tipsy-chainsaw will end up with nothing more than a 'suspension with pay'. (Hope I'm wrong about this, but I doubt it.)
Posted by: coder1 | October 28, 2009 2:03 PM
Sure, MikeB, you moved to PA because of those big bad Baltimore cop meanies. Seriously, do Ehrlich sycophants like you have anything better to do than lie on message boards and blogs about moving to PA every time Martin O'Malley sneezes or there's a shooting takes place in a part of the city where you'll never set foot in?
Posted by: Mr. Mephistopheles | October 30, 2009 10:39 AM
Hello
Its really interesting to read this post.I like to read about crime and its operations so I can know so many new things about it.hank you very much for sharing this with us
Posted by: creatine | October 31, 2009 1:14 AM